Mr. Byrne:
The requested information is contained in the following table.

Asylum statistics are published quarterly and annually. Copies of these publications are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:

Grants of ILR issued under the family ILR exercise as at 7 December 2007( 1, 2, 3, 4) , excluding dependants, for specified nationalities

Country of nationality

Total

EU Accession States

Czech Republic

255

Cyprus

35

Estonia

90

Hungary

*

Latvia

115

Lithuania

380

Poland

580

Slovakia

80

Slovenia

*

Total EU Accession States

1,545

Europe Other

Bulgaria

65

Croatia

360

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

2,460

Ireland

*

Bosnia and Herzegovina

35

Republic of Montenegro

15

Turkish controlled area of Cyprus

155

Total Europe Other

3,090

(1) Provisional figures rounded to the nearest 5 (* = 1 or 2 ).(2) Main asylum applicants.(3) This information is based on internal management information.(4) Nationality recorded as at 7 December 2007 is not necessarily the applicants nationality at the time of grant of ILR.

Mrs. Ellman:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many complaints have been received about the International Training Agency's removal of failed asylum seekers from the UK; and how many have been substantiated. [182068]

Mr. Byrne:
Since 1 October 2006 there have been a total of nine complaints received about the International Training Agency's removal of persons from the United Kingdom. Of these, four have been unsubstantiated, one substantiated and the remaining four are still under investigation.

Departmental Data Protection

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which agencies and organisations have access to personal data held by her Department or its agencies; and which agencies and organisations have been provided with such data in each of the last two years. [167997]

Mr. Vara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) on how many occasions the Information Commissioner was contacted by her Department to report breaches of data protection security in each of the last five years; [168816]

6 Feb 2008 : Column 1210W

(2) how many breaches of data protection security there were in her Department or her Departments agencies in each of the last five years; and if she will provide details of each breach. [168838]

Tom Brake:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she proposes to review how her Department transports data; and whether her Department uses TNT to transport data. [169222]

Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which (a) Government organisations and providers and (b) private sector providers her Department and its agencies use for postal and courier services; which of these have lost her Departments files, documents or databases containing personal information in the last five years; what information, relating to how many people, has been lost or mislaid in the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [169561]

Mr. Byrne:
I refer the hon. Members to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179W. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments procedures will be made on completion of the review.

Departmental Manpower

Norman Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many reports have been made to her Departments nominated officers under paragraph 16 of the revised Civil Service Code since its publication on 6 June 2006; [162437]

(2) how many allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing have been reported to her Department by departmental staff since 6 June 2006; [162438]

(3) when her Departments whistleblowing procedures were reviewed to reflect the provisions in the revised civil service code. [162439]

Mr. Byrne:
Since 6 June 2006, there have been nine such reports. The Department sends details of the reports to the civil service commissioners on a six-monthly basis.

There have been no known allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing reported in the Department.

Departmental Plastics

Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Home Office-branded plastic bags her Department has procured in the last 24 months for which figures are available; and at what cost. [176441]

Mr. Byrne:
The number of branded plastic bags that the Home Department purchased for the 24 months, January 2006 to December 2007, was 132,000 at a cost of £15,455.

6 Feb 2008 : Column 1211W

Departmental Responsibilities

Mr. Heath:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) reviews, (b) consultations and (c) task forces her Department is (i) responsible for and (ii) scheduled to undertake; on what date each (A) started and (B) is expected to be completed; and what the purpose is of each. [172549]

Departmental: Freedom of Information

Norman Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of Freedom of Information requests received by her Department have given rise to responses that have been published by her Department. [180220]

Mr. Byrne:
Between January 2005 and December 2007 the Home Office received 7,172 requests. As of 1 January 2008 977 (13 per cent.) of responses have appeared on the departments disclosure log. This figure includes requests received by the National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform until 9 May 2007 when they ceased to be part of the Home Office upon the creation of the Ministry of Justice. Since the autumn of 2005 the Home Office disclosure log has been maintained on the basis of there being a presumption in favour of publication where information is released.

Deportation

Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals who were handed down a community sentence were removed from the United Kingdom by (a) deportation and (b) administrative removal in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [178679]

Mr. Byrne:
The Chief Executive of the Border and Immigration Agency appeared before the Home Affairs Committee on 15 January and advised that the Agency has the power to deport what are regarded as non-conducive cases and that it is using administrative removal in cases where a community sentence has been given rather than deportation. She advised that over 4,200 foreign national prisoners were deported or removed in 2007.

Mr. Brazier:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who remained in the UK beyond the expiration of their visa were deported in each of the last five years. [178727]

6 Feb 2008 : Column 1212W

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 4 February 2008]: No government has ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally. By its very nature it is impossible to quantify accurately and that remains the case. Information on the number of people who overstayed their visa and were subsequently removed could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records only at disproportionate cost.

Exit controls were phased out from 1994. As part of the Governments 10-point plan for delivery, by Christmas 2008 the majority of foreign nationals will be counted in and out of the country. This will build on the successes of our early testing of the e-Borders programme (Project Semaphore) which already covers over 30 million passenger movements and has led to 18,000 alerts and more than 1,500 arrests.

This is part of a sweeping programme of border protection which also includes the global roll-out of fingerprint visas, compulsory watch-list checks for all travellers from high-risk countries before they land in Britain and ID cards for foreign nationals.

Drugs: Arrests

Mr. Malins:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of persons found in possession of a class C drug for the first time were (a) cautioned and (b) charged with an offence in the area covered by the Metropolitan Police in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [178107]

Mr. Coaker:
Information covering the number of offenders cautioned by the police and proceeded against at magistrates' courts in 2006 for offences relating to the possession of a class C drug in the Metropolitan Police force area, is provided in the following table.

It is not possible to separately identify from the information held by my Department whether the offenders were cautioned or proceeded against for the first time.

Information on charging is not reported to the Ministry of Justice.

Number of offenders cautioned and defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts for offences in relation to the possession of a class C drug, Metropolitan police force area 2006( 1)

Offence

Offenders cautioned

Defendants proceeded against

Possession of a class C drug

5,040

4,049

Possession of a class C drug with intent to supply

193

493

Total

5,233

4,542

(1) These data are on the principal offence basis. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Court proceedings database - Office For Criminal Justice Reform - Ministry of Justice.

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Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes she has (a) made and (b) plans to make in respect of the granting of extensions to student visas; in what circumstances such extensions are refused; and if she will make a statement. [177398]

Mr. Byrne:
In line with the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC418) laid before Parliament on 28 March 2007, changes relating to extensions of leave to remain as a student took effect on 1 September 2007. This inadvertently led to a particular group of students (those who already had leave to remain in the UK as a student and were applying for further leave to study here, as opposed to those who last entered the UK with a valid student entry clearance) being refused extension applications for not having valid leave.

We have since issued a casework instruction to allow these cases to be treated in line with other groups of students. Casework instructions are kept under review at all times but a major overhaul of all the instructions 6 Feb 2008 : Column 1214W
relating to student applications will be undertaken in preparation of the introduction of the points based system as it will apply for students from the first quarter of 2009.

Firearms: Theft

Mr. Ruffley:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) shotguns, (b) rifles and (c) handguns were stolen in (i) England and Wales and (ii) each police force area in each year since 1997; and how many have been subsequently recovered and returned to the owner. [176308]

Mr. Coaker:
Information on firearms stolen, subsequently recovered and returned to the owner is not collected centrally.

Data on misappropriated firearms for England and Wales are given from 1997 to 2006-07. The breakdown of these weapons by police force area is not available centrally for years up to and including 2002-03; therefore force level data are given only from 2003-04 to 2006-07.

Table a: Firearms misappropriated( 1) in crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, 1997 to 2002-03

Weapon type

1997

1997-98

1998-99

1999-2000

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

Shotguns

539

524

395

447

431

423

462

Rifles

193

155

179

200

172

139

129

Handguns

305

270

242

219

167

79

85

(1) .Misappropriated is defined as stolen, obtained by fraud or forgery etc. or handled dishonestly.